Customer Reviews

Mala Uva

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How exactly does one translate the title, MALA UVA: Bad grapes? Foul mood? That's the only real mystery in this movie -- because this isn't a crime thriller about a hit man, it's a dark comedy about a hit man, wrapped-up with a romantic comedy about ... growing older, and all that that entails.

I loved every minute. Like so many of my favorite European films, MALA UVA develops slowly and without fanfare, but inspires many smiles throughout. Very quickly we begin to recognize the best parts of our friends, family and self within this happy, loving family of a (secretly) former hit man! That should tell you just how quietly subversive but charming this film really is.

Sancho Gracia (Cesar) is excellent in this movie; he reminds me very much of Marcello Mastroianni, later in his own career, who performed many tongue-in-cheek roles like 'Cesar,' and had a great gift for bringing a warm but slightly skewed sense of humanity to every role. Sancho Gracia shows he could fill Mastroianni's shoes, at least in this film -- and I have never said that about any other actor. It's worth watching MALA UVA just for Gracia's performance, but I think you'll find even more to like, as the movie develops. I did, anyway.

Ciao!